July 2013

Over 20 defenders and observers arrived in Guatemala City for the 4th Global Workers Defender Network Forum. As the Defender Network grows and we hone the strengths of our cross border model, these forums continue to play an important role in directing our efforts across the region. Key elements of every forum are the outcome sharing and strategic planning sessions and discussions. This year the forum in Guatemala took on issues involving recruitment fraud, among them the unlawful practice by recruiters of H-2B visas of confiscating property titles as collateral against workers leaving their contract early due to abusive working conditions.

In the first session of the day defender organizations reported on the work their respective organizations had accomplished in the context of portable justice and the Defender Network...

The trickle of reporter and news media outlets this morning quickly turned into a downpour of demands on the press release speakers’ time, as TV crews, radios, and print journalists pulled Global Workers’ Executive Director, Cathleen Caron, and report author and Global Workers defender Aroldo Palacios aside for one-on-one interviews. The press release, or Rueda de Prensa, stayed true to its name, driving speakers to answer rounds of identical questions during the press conference for our report, Confiscation of Property Titles by Recruiters in Guatemala of Temporary Workers with H-2B Visas.

The mission of the Global Workers Justice Alliance is to combat worker exploitation by promoting portable justice for transnational migrants through a cross-border network of worker advocates and resources.

Global Workers coined the term portable justice to describe the right and ability of transnational migrant workers to access justice in the countries of employment even after they have departed for their home countries.